Pepper and Bruce

 A year ago began an adventure I'd like to say isn't still going, but alas...it is. We entered something that hasn't happened since 1918 - a pandemic. I am not going to go into crazy detail what has been going on because, frankly, I'm not going to forget this craziness anytime soon. Mostly because it's still happening. And also because it's hard to forget such a massively huge event. But perhaps the drama for another day.

As the pandemic began, the world shut down and kids went to remote schooling. It was strange and not necessarily easy. They were given devices from the school to connect to live classes with their teachers and then at the end of the school year, had to return them. It was on this day that we had a little miracle. Dare I say one of the best things to come out of the pandemic? 

As we pulled into the parking lot and drove around the side of the school, Abby shouts out, "A kitten!" to which I instantly stopped the van and looked. Lo and behold, in the grass under a tree, there was a very tiny and helpless kitten. Now, I told my  kids that the only way we were getting another kitten in our house was if one fell from the sky. I looked around and there was no mama or any sign of other kittens. It was scared and very small and I was convinced it was dropped from a predatory bird as it was literally in the middle of nowhere. So...a kitten fell from the sky.

 Enter, our new kitten...Pepper.

Right after we found her.

  

She just got her clean bill of health from the vet...who laughed when she saw me come in with her.

Now, she was pretty dirty, hungry, filled with worms and fleas, and by golly the sweetest little thing on the face of the good green Earth. Instant. Love. I knew from the second I picked her up and she curled up in the palm of my hand that she was ours. After a clean bill of health and some cleaning up, we knew she needed a friend. As if it was meant to be, a girl in our town was looking for a home for her last kitten and that is how Pepper met Bruce. 

I believe he's contemplating what to destroy first.

Now we have seven four-legged friends who we just love unconditionally (and let me tell you that Bruce needs it to be unconditional as he is a turd-bucket). Without the pandemic, we wouldn't have our sweet Pepper and stinker "brother" Bruce. They are turning one year old this month. And as I sit here, Pepper just leapt up onto one of our brand new bouncing balls (the expensive ones you sit on and bounce on) and shredded it. *sigh* I still love them.